ONE SHOT PRODUCTIONS
A Day in the Life of a Comic Book

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One Shot Productions
3125 S. Mendenhall #194
Memphis, TN 38115

Being an Indie Publisher ain't easy.
It's not a way to get rich, and it's really not even a way to break even. Maybe everyone has a different reason why they would start publishing comics independently, but my reason is pretty simple. I just have to. I drew my first comic book on notebook paper with colored pencils in 1987 when I was 10 years old. And it sucked. Thankfully, my comics improved (slowly) over the following 10 or so years. I started publishing my comics in 2001. I love writing comics, and I'm getting more and more into developing my style of art as well.

Indie publishers have to balance all the same facets of life as anyone else (day job, chores, personal life, etc) but we also have to find the time to squeeze in all the duties of publishing that are usually done by a TEAM of paid comic professionals (writing, drawing, lettering, web design, promoting, etc). Sometimes you just want to relax. Sometimes you do that a little more often than you should. Sometimes a LOT more.

So on May 16, 2007, I decided to make a stand. I decided to try to do SOMETHING comic related EVERY DAY. I do have some rules, which are pretty loose and apt to change. I started this web log on June 1st 2007, and so far I HAVE done something for my comics every day. I don't know how long it can last, but I'm going to try.

I've decided to chronicle my daily comic tasks right here for our readers, to give them a peek into the creative steps and behind-the-scenes processes that bring these stories to the page. Enjoy :)
-Jay W. Davis, One Shot Productions

Previous Blogs: [Jul-Dec 2007] - [Jan-Jun 2008] --------------------------------------------

OCTOBER 9, 2008
I penciled all of page twenty three. Panel 1 was easy. The left-hand side of panel 2 was fine, but the right side had to be drawn twice. On panel 3, both sides gave me trouble and were drawn twice. Panel 4 should have been easy, but I drew it the wrong size at first. Panel 5 was tough, but I knocked it out (with the help of photo reference a friend posed for).

OCTOBER 8, 2008
More work on the fight scene today. I penciled panels 4 & 5 on page twenty two today. Panel 4 didn't give me any problems. Panel 5 was less cooperative.

OCTOBER 7, 2008
I started on the actual art for page twenty two. I skipped panel 1 since I'm still not 100% sure what camera angle I want to use for this sequence (it shows one man push another down). Panel 2 though, I know exactly what I want. So that's what I drew tonight. I penciled pretty much all of panel 2, which is a large panel (about 30% of the total page). I also tried to draw panel 3, but it was no good and erased it. I also cleaned up my work area today (a daunting task of its own!). Later, I went back to panel 3 and drew a better version.

OCTOBER 6, 2008
I finshed the layouts for pages twenty two and twenty three. I changed the camera angle on panel 22.1 (that's page twenty two, panel 1) and added some bystanders into the panel to show their reactions. Panel 22.2 was going to be a shot of their reactions, but was replaced by an extreme close up of the attacker. On the next page, I moved panels 23.1 and 23.2 around and expanded the latter into a wide panel. I sketched a new panel for 23.1 to include another of the peripheral characters in this scene. Like yesterday, there was a lot of sketching & erasing as I found what worked for me in the layout.

OCTOBER 5, 2008
I worked out a layout for page twenty two. Yes, that's skipping ahead quite a bit, but I want to make sure I get all the characters involved in the fight scene. A few weeks ago, I mentioned there were peripheral characters in this comic just like a movie has "extras" in the background. If I can't squeeze the extras into the main action sequence, then I don't need to draw those suckers for the other twenty pages before the fight! I think I've got page twenty two worked out, and I sketched the last couple of panels of page twenty three These layout sketches are smaller than actual pages. There's a lot of erasing and redrawing at this stage, so I'd rather work in a scaled-down form rather than redraw the large size multiple times. Later, I sketched panels 1 & 2 of page twenty three.

OCTOBER 4, 2008
And begins the art! After reviewing my sketches and "test" art from last month. I started penciling on page one of my next project. I skipped the firt two panels, and penciled panels 3 & 4 instead. I also used a good ballpoint pen to ink the mairn character in panel 4. It looks so much better than the art I've done with an ultra-fine point marker. I didn't realize how badly the marker was bleeding compared to the ballpoint. After seeing this first bit of art, I'm really excited! I think I may need to tackle the massive fight scene art first, so I make sure to include enough characters to match the body count :)

OCTOBER 3, 2008
TA-DA!! I finally finished the script for my next project! A few days ago, this book had enough panels to be forty pages long! I wanted to keep this story at the industry standard, usually 22 pages. After a TON of editing things out and condensing the visuals into fewer panels, I've got a finished script of 26 pages. A little longer than I wanted, but there are some parts you need to "get" the story and characters. And there are certain parts of the story I couldn't lose, or I wouldn't do the book at all. I'm happy with the 26 pages, and feel relieved it didn't go any longer than that. I'll still be able to work in a short story in the back of the book like usual, which will probably mean a 36 pages total. Oh one more thing: I bought a new web domain name. Where the "oneshotproductions.com" site provides content for comic READERS, the new site will be primarily for comic ARTISTS. I hope to use the new site as a way to recruit new artists for One Shot.

OCTOBER 2, 2008
MASSIVE editing tonight. I worked on the script for more than two hours. Reading, cutting, reading again. This stage of a story's development doesn't usually take this much work. The main obstacle today was a six-page scene. This scene had some repetitive elements, so parts got cut out & moved around. I wanted to keep the best parts of the dialogue, but this sometimes meant changing the sequence of when things were said. When I finally conquered this scene, it lasts three pages. It would have been great to just trim off three-pages-worth of material and been done, but the scene wouldn't flow that way. It had to be chipped away a bit at a time, sanding out the rough edges. Other than the amount of time it took, I'm really satisfied with how the scene works. I hope I can still trim another scene or two later in the story.

OCTOBER 1, 2008
Fifteen months of doing something for comics every day! That's a lot of months :) Today I started on the more difficult part of scripting this next story: grouping panels into separate pages. It may not sound like a big deal, but this part of my process is where the "pacing" for the whole book is determined. The "pacing" is kinda like the speed at which things happen. Plus, I like to end a scene at the bottom of a page if possible. As a reader, I hate it when a scene ends in the middle of the page, and we switch to a different scene (or location or time of day) on that same page. I consider this kind of pacing "sloppy" and should only be used when absolutely unavoidable. I've got the first ten pages of the comic scripted. A lot of the introduction got cut out. And in some spots, two panels had to be combined into one for pacing or to conserve space. I intended this story to be a normal sized (22 page) comic, but I've written enough material for twice that! Even with a lot of editing and combining, this comic is still going to be a lot longer than 22 pages.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
Of breaking the story down into individual panels, I've finished the bulk of it. I still had more than half of it left from yesterday, but I worked through to the end today. There are a couple of spots where I did not make individual panels (once in a fight scene which I do not want to choreograph yet, and once in a long block of dialogue that I haven't set a pace for yet. This took somewhere over an hour today. I guess I was pretty wordy when I wrote this draft :)

SEPTEMBER 29, 2008
I started scripting my new story today. I didn't realize exactly how long the opening expositional scene was. I knew I'd have to cut it down some, but I'm not sure how much yet. I didn't make it past this lengthy section today. First, I'm just breaking the story down into panels. I haven't started grouping them into pages yet, though I do make a note of panels that feel like a good end-panel for a page. This will help me figure out the grouping and pace later.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
I finished the new draft of my next project! This is the short story version, which allows me to write freely without having to pin down aspects such as pacing (which the script will dictate). I normally call this type of draft my "readable" draft so I can share it with friends and get some feedback. This draft, however, may not be that readable. This is mainly because I know that I'm going to draw this story, so there are a lot of little notes to myself sprinkled amid the writing. It always feels good to finish good to finish a story, like when your thumb presses in the last piece of a puzzle. What's even more satisfying tonight, is that I had a great "ah ha!" moment right as I began tonight. This was an idea I had about how to end the story. I had a vague action sequence plotted loosely in my head, but I didn't have a real ending in mind yet. What I thought of tonight was to do something with one of the secondary characters you really shouldn't see coming. And not in an "oh my gosh, I no longer enjoy this story now" kind of way (I hate when a story makes ME feel like that, not that I'm calling any names *cough*blairwitchproject*cough*). I'm really excited with how the ending worked out, and I can't wait to start scripting!

SEPTEMBER 27, 2008
More progress on the story I'm writing. In a pivotal scene, the main character goes through a transformation. The scene I wrote today is his narration as he wakes up after this change. This section wasn't terribly hard to write, but it's very important. It flowed very easily as I wrote it. There is really only one more scene left to write for this story, and it's a somewhat long action sequence. That's going to be fun :)

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Another satisfying round of writing today! One of the challenges of this book is that I've made a short list of words that I do NOT want to use in this story. These words are words that are just too obvious to use, and I want to challenge myself to write around these words without using them. Religion is a major undercurrent in this book, so I'm purposefully avoiding certain related words. I don't really care about being 'politically correct' or whether someone is offended by the subject matter. I guess I'm just fed up with lame watered-down things I've read, and I don't want to create any of that garbage myself. Anyway, this story is coming along great so far. There's so much material, that I anticipate a lot of editing to whittle it down to standard comic size (that's a good thing!).

SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
Great bit of progress today! I wrote the rest of the first scene, and most of the next scene. I feel like I've got a really solid grip on who these characters are. That helps a lot! Once this group of very different people are together in a scene, their actions and reactions nearly write themselves. This book is going to be bloody and violent, but there's a lot of deeper stuff going on as well. This is a part of writing that I really love. Balancing the cool action elements with a deep and engaging story. No writer tries realistically to please everyone, but I feel like having this balance helps my stories have something to offer a variety of readers. It's certainly what draws me in to my favorite comics.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
Finally back to some writing! I wrote some back-and-forth dialogue for the main character as his companion. Then I wrote a section of dialogue between the two main villains. Then more between the first two, and then more between the second two. So far, I'm happy with this draft. This opening exposition is really getting some key information out through a scene that reads like chit-chat. I think this scene will require a little bit more to transition into the intense second scene though.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
Just when I thought I couldn't do any more research for this next comic... Today I realized that I haven't looked at any reference material of what medieval peasant homes looked like. I have a vague image in my head, but I wanted to make sure I worked off of something based in fact (not vague recollections). I looked at some, and found something quite different than I would have drawn. The vague images in my head were mostly stone or morter homes, which are too pricey for the peasant town in my story. I drew a few small sketches of the structures on one sheet, then drew it much bigger on a separate sheet. In the large drawing, I added a generic person knocking on the door for a size reference. I didn't ink these, but I shaded the large drawing with grey pencil tones (and some help from a cotton swab).

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
Today I did some website maintenance, including something I've been wanting to do to this blog. Instead of having one enormous 14-month long blog on one web page, I cut the blog down in 6-month chunks. So the first six months is grouped together, the second six months, and then the current period. The previous blogs are still available to view so you can see what I was doing on your last birthday or whatever ;) Also today, I emailed a few artists who are working on various projects / webcomics with me.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2008
A tad more research on historical dates and such before I could get started (yes, a 'tad'). Then I got started on the story! Hurray! This morning, I started with a long narration from the main character, which gives enough exposition to then dive into the story.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2008
Today I was in a book store, and I flipped through a couple of mangas on a sale rack. Almost all of them are in black & white, but one of them had colored only the blood of the fight scenes. This is what I had wanted to do with my 2005 comic "Pride's Fall," but found that it would have cost the same as doing a book in full color (which is WAY more expensive than B&W). This got me thinking about my next project, which has some pretty bloody parts. I thought "hmm, what if the book was full of grey values, but the only pure white part was the BLOOD?" Once home, I opened the image I was experimenting on lately. I made sure there were greys on EVERYTHING, then imported one of the blood effects from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I inverted the color so the blood would be bright white, and added it to the picture. And it looked absolutely stupid. Like milk was shooting out of the guy's neck. I inverted the color back to black (like it was in Bamboo Grove) and it looked fine. What I learned is that I DO want nearly everything on the page to have a grey value (rather than have a lot of white areas), so the solid black blood areas will stand out against the rest of the grey-toned page. And the characters won't appear to be filled with paste when badly cut. Later, I drew a really crappy sketch of characters around a campfire.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2008
I went back to the library today to read up on some history. I didn't stay as long today, and I had already read most of what I found today. I did draw a sketch of a historical map I found, and wrote down a quote from a political / religious leader from the time (which ties in with the main character's motivation). This didn't feel like much work today, so I also drew a pencil drawing of the monster from this next project. I'm using the old school technique of blending my pencil shadows with a cotton swab. It's effective, but can sometimes make an intolerable squeak like fingernails on a chalkboard.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008
Today I drew a kinda gruesome scene related to my next comic. It shows the main character using his sword to dispatch an enemy. I still haven't decided exactly what kind of art style I want to go with on this book. The story is dark and gritty, but my art doesn't really reflect that. I'm almost ready to start writing a new draft (since the story has deepened in my head since writing the previous draft a couple years ago). But I'd like to pin down what it's going to look like before I actually write the new draft. That way I'll be able to visualize it better as I write.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2008
Since my next project takes place during a certain point in history and involves a known myth, I needed to do some deeper research. So I went to the library. I found a great book about the myth, and I spent about an hour reading and taking notes. I didn't get to the historical books today, but I wrote down a couple titles of interest.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
So today's experiment was to draw this same scene from the past few days. THIS time, I used an ultra fine marker and went for a clean style. I scanned this in, and dropped it on top of the grey background I already had. Then, I digitally shaded the character. Here's the problem: the character looks WAY better than the sloppier styles I tried lately... but the backgrounds now look like garbage next to the much cleaner art of the character. The character art from today is much closer to the illustrations I did for the "FALTER" comic. Although I've improved a lot in this style since that book, I was hoping to try something new with this next project. I still might.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
Another experiment. Tonight, I drew the same scene as yesterday, but only with grey pencil. I intentionally smudged it for shading. I scanned the image, and digitally put it in front of the inked art from yesterday. I'm not completely sold on this method, but it looks better than the other things I've tried this week.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008
The experiments continue. I painted three separate pages. First, I tried the same thing as yesterday, but without any black outlines. It was a step in the right direction, but still a bit too sloppy. The next painting was just a bit too plain (probably because I skipped the blue pencil outlines that time). The third attempt was actually pretty good. Not as sloppy or plain as the other two today, and without the harsh black ink of yesterday's try. The only problem is that the faces are not well defined when using this technique. I wonder if I'll be able to add faces using grey ink and a smaller brush. If not, I may have to resort to adding the face details digitally.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008
Tonight, I experimented a bit with a new art style. Similar to what I did on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," this involved diluted india ink for shading. The difference is how I did the black lines. In "Bamboo Grove," the black was all undiluted india ink. Tonight, I tried ultra fine marker for the outlines. I hated it. But I didn't outline anything in the background. I really liked the way that part turned out. I tried to fix the foreground art with india ink, but it was too late. But, I've got an idea now of what I DON'T want to do on this project :)

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008
Now that I've got four main characters and four "extras" designed for my next project, I drew them all on the same sheet today. It's just a wide view of everyone walking, but it was good practice. These are characters I haven't drawn too many times yet, and this was a good chance to draw the size differences in relation to each other.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
I designed two more characters to be "extras" in the next project. Although these characters don't have dialogue critical to the story, it is important that they fit in well with the group hanging around the main characters. This is pretty fun, since the design of these characters is quite different. Unlike creating heroes and villains, you can really play with the features of these characters. For instance, one of the "extras" I created today is missing two fingers. Why is he missing fingers? Who knows. He's just background noise :)

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
I read up on more clothing of the Middle Ages and drew sketches of some of what I saw. I also sketched a couple of characters who will appear in the next project, but who don't play any major role. Like "extras" in a movie, these characters will serve as part of the background imagery.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2008
I sketched another pivotal scene from my next project. This one turned out so well, it may become part of the art I'll use in the publication. I did some research about medieval clothing, hair styles, and torture - all of which are relevant to my next project.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2008
First thing this morning, I posted ads on myspace for my new webcomic. And I posted a bulletin about it to everyone on my friends list. I also sketched a pivotal scene from my next project. This art isn't something I'll actually use in the finished product, but it's an image I've had in mind a lot lately. I wanted to get it on paper while strong in my mind. Plus, I'll probably use this as a reference when doing the art for the actual comic.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008
As I flesh out the cast of characters for my next project, some are harder to pin down than others. I want the lead character to have someone to talk to and interact with, but I want this supporting character to be weak-willed. I solved this problem in a way that seems simple now -- making him younger. I saw this character as an adult - maybe a peer to the hero. But when the conflict arises, I need this character to fold like an old dollar bill :) I sketched the new character and wrote a description for him. I also emailed the notes I prepared yesterday for that comic news website. Later tonight, I brushed up on some research reading, because my next project takes place hundreds of years ago. I took notes on some of what I read.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2008
I'm writing a description of the Shadowlord web series and characters to send to a comic news website. They may do an interview with me about the comic :) I wrote up two pages of notes about this, then edited and condensed it down to one page.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008
Today I sketched another supporting character for my next project. I wrote a description for this one, just as I did for the two yesterday. The two from yesterday were both villains, and I don't want this story to have too many bad guys. So the one today was designed to be intellectually weak, so he will help the villains without being another strong character to focus on.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2008
I drew a sketch of the hero from my next project. It didn't turn out. My next sketch was of a supporting character from this story. This turned out MUCH better, and I wrote a brief synopsis of what this character is like. I also wrote out a page of notes about the four scenes of this new project. This will help me keep on track as I actually start writing this tale. Then, I sketched and wrote a description for another supporting character.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
I got up early today and posted my new ad on a number of myspace groups. I also contacted a couple of places that do comic reviews. I'm trying to get better at actually getting the word out once I've completed a project (rather than just diving into the next one like I usually do).

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008
Today I made a new web image to advertise my webcomics. The image shows a close up of Calico's bared teeth (the same image I used as a selection thumbnail on the webcomic page). I experimented with blurring just the claw, then all of Calico. Ultimately, I didn't like either as it didn't show off my improving skill as a colorist. I added partially see-through black block to the right hand side, so the text is easier to read.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2008
Today marks FOURTEEN months that I've been doing something for my comics EVERY DAY and writing about it in this web log. To celebrate, I'm posting the third installment / conclusion of the Shadowlord "Daybreak" webcomic! Also today, I reorganized the rest of my webcomics (Departure, Goroshi, and Torpedo v Gator-Face) like I did for the Shadowlord files yesterday. Plus I updated those other webcomic pages by adding the "previous" and "next" links on the bottom of the page for easier navigation. Oh, and I updated the Home/News page to announce the new webcomic too.

AUGUST 31, 2008
Lettering is finished on the Shadowlord "Daybreak" webcomic! After that, I prepped the pages for the web (changing the dpi & resizing each one). As I started creating the html pages for this part, I realized that the number of files in the "webcomic" folder had increased quite a bit with this new addition. So I decided to change the way the files are stored. I jotted out notes to help figure out what would be best, then put the new plan into action with all of the Shadowlord webcomic files (old and new).

AUGUST 30, 2008
I began lettering the Shadowlord "Daybreak" webcomic today. I got done with pages twelve through fifteen, and just the first three panels of page sixteen. I really intended to do all the lettering from start to finish today, but that didn't happen. Lettering seven pages isn't really a big production, but I got caught up in tweaking the art on some of the first few pages of this section. I intend to post this installment of the webcomic on the first of next month, and I'm still on schedule to do that.

AUGUST 29, 2008
Finished page eighteen of the Shadowlord webcomic. This is the last page of the "Daybreak" story! I had to redo some of the things I had already done the previous two days because I wasn't quite happy with the results. These included the small Shadowlord & Calico in panel 1, and further cleaning up the trees in that panel. I also didn't like the leaf canopy in panel 2 between the foreground and background layers, so I changed it. I also textured, shaded, and blurred the foliage in the extreme foreground of both panels. I shaded and blurred the falling leaves in panel 2 (this was a separate layer from the other foreground foliage). I added a fade effect to Dark Warrior in panel 1. There were plenty of other little things to finish up on this page too. Now that all the digital colors & shadows are done, I can move on to the next step!

AUGUST 28, 2008
More of page eighteen today. Lots more. I shaded all the trees in both panels, then shaded the dirt layer. Then I realized that some of the trees were too bright, so I went back and added more shading to the trees in panel 1. I colored and shaded the tiny Shadowlord and Calico in both panels. I added highlights and shadows to the two falling leaves in panel 2, then blurred them to look out of focus. I'm still not quite done with this page though.

AUGUST 27, 2008
I shaded Dark Warrior in panel 1 of page eighteen. This is the last page of the "Daybreak" webcomic, so I'm taking my time with it. Dark Warrior is very large in panel 1, as he is in the extreme foreground. As such, I was careful to zoom in and smudge out any of those annoying white flecks in amid the black outlines or color portions. I also redid the dirt layer in panel 1, which I had done rather quickly some time ago. Afterward, I did some work on my Shadowlord color palette. I like to keep all of my base colors (flat colors) on one image file rather than have a set palette within my photoediting program. There's no reason in particular why I do it this way, it's just my preference. The palette I started with this project was messy and had jagged black lines to separate groups of related colors (such as colors for Shadowlord's skin, hair, and clothes). The new palette I made has all the same colors of course, but is much more uniform and organized with straight lines.

AUGUST 26, 2008
Page seventeen is finished. It was a bunch of work too. The shading wasn't a big deal, but there were plenty of annoying white dots to smudge out from the black parts (and equally annoying black dots in the white patches). These pop up sometimes and are usually a result of me scanning something without having thoroughly erased the pencil work. Also, I was having trouble making Dark Warrior fade out gradually. I had a friend help me figure that one out. I'll need to use the same fading technique on the next page too.

AUGUST 25, 2008
Back to work on the Shadowlord webcomic. I finished the backgrounds for all 4 panels on page seventeen. This included a dirt layer in each panel as well as the green part of each background (which was digitally shaded freehand). I also added all the shading to Dark Warrior in panel 1.

AUGUST 24, 2008
I've got a female character I'd like to use in some upcoming stories. I spent a lot of time last night thinking about what I can do with this character. Today, I sat down and wrote out notes about what kind of project I want to use this character in. I also listed out a bunch of plot points I'd like to hit as I build the stories. I thought of some problems with her home life that would influence her to adopt certain behaviors. I really enjoy using real-life behavior psychology to define fictional characters' personalities. I also sketched out a couple of funny t-shirts for her to wear.

AUGUST 23, 2008
First thing this morning, I got up and started working on page sixteen. It took about two and a half hours, but I finished it. The last panel on the page is what slowed me down. Since this is a panel I'm reusing from the original 2002 art, it was not drawn to be colored. When I draw something that I know will be colored, I'll make little shortcuts. This panel had none of those. I wanted to have separate layers for the far background, the dirt, Shadowlord, Dark Warrior, the trees, and the leaf canopy overhead. What made it hard was that all the lines touch each other. I don't draw it that way if I'm going to separate all of it. Of course, I could have just redrawn that panel and it would have been a lot easier, but this was one of my favorite panels in the original 2002 comic. So it was satisfying to get another use out of it this time around.

AUGUST 22, 2008
I got through most of page sixteen today. I finished coloring and shading all of the first two panels. I colored and shaded Dar Warrior in panels 3,4,& 5, but didn't get to the backgrounds. I added a blue jean texture to Shadowlord's pants in panel five, and added shading to his pants and shoes.

AUGUST 21, 2008
It was no easy task, but I finished all of page fifteen today. There were a lot of background trees, which had to be individually shaded. I shaded all of Dark Warrior's body and clothing, and I created the purple fire effect seen in this panel too. This panel looks very different from the original 2002 comic. I like this one much better :)

AUGUST 20, 2008
I finished the flat colors on page fifteen today. I separated Dark Warrior onto his own layer. I copied the main tree from this panel, and resized it a number of times to create more trees in the background layer. I also added a dirt layer to the background. I also updated the "Coming Soon" and "Available Now" web pages, which I haven't done in a while.

AUGUST 19, 2008
Finally finished with page fourteen! I added the purple flame effect to the bursts coming from Shadowlord's hands and eyes. I also shaded and blurred the leaves in the extreme foreground. I also touched up minor things I had missed like shading SL's teeth. I drew another sketch for that upcoming project I'm working on, but I didn't like how it turned out. Then I drew two really good versions of the main character. These two versions are a before & after because he goes through a major change in the story. It's fun to draw his outfit because the story's set in medieval times. I also wrote a brief synopsis of the story. I think I've written a formal draft of this story once, but the story has been changing a bit in my head since the last time I worked on it.

AUGUST 18, 2008
Page fourteen again. Today, I digitally painted the flame shape coming from Shadowlord's hands and eyes. After painting the general shape, I zoomed in and erased a little at a time until the smooth parts were smooth enough and the sharp parts were sharp. I filled in all the little annoying white dots in the Shadowlord's black outline (a result of scanning and tweaking the contrast). And this morning I drew a sketch of a character for an upcoming comic I plan to illustrate.

AUGUST 17, 2008
More work on page fourteen today. I added shading to Shadowlord's skin and hair. I refined the fingers on the hand (which were drawn digitally freehand, and were a bit sloppy). I also took out the dirt layer that I wasn't happy with, and replaced it.

AUGUST 16, 2008
Page fourteen is complicated. The whole page is one giant panel, but it's made of multiple layers. There are three layers just for the background. I finished the shading for the tree layer and the far green background layers (leaving the dirt layer untouchd). I shaded most of Shadowlord (shirt, jeans, shoes) but didn't get to the skin or hair. And I haven't even drawn the flame element yet (the whole point of this panel). Oh, and I digitally drew a neck, which I guess I forgot on the original drawing.

AUGUST 15, 2008
I knocked out page thirteen today. I had already done the flat colors a few days ago. Today was all the shading and highlights, duplicating the red fire effect for Dark Warrior in panel 1, and creating a new purple fire effect for Shadowlord's eyes in panel 2. I'm particularly happy with the purple fire coming from SL's eyes.

AUGUST 14, 2008
I finished the colors & shading of page twelve of the Shadowlord webcomic. One of the tricky parts today was developing a good red and yellow flame effect for Dark Warrior's hand. I've done a purple flame effect before, and this was created the same way (but with more colors). After finishing all the shading on SL, DW, and Calico in panels 1 & 3, I tried to imply motion in panel 3 a number of ways. Motion blurs and wind effects weren't giving me the look I wanted here. Ultimately, I created a set of horizontal streaks. I then put these streaks behind the main character layer, but in front of the background. Then, I just had to adjust the streak layer to make it a little see-through.

AUGUST 13, 2008
Well I was hoping to finish page twelve today (colors & shading), but I got hung up on panel 2. This is the first time we see Calico, as she is leaping toward the reader (and out of the panel borders). I finished this important panel, and I am extremely pleased with how it turned out. Shading the fur wasn't a big deal, but I wanted to emulate the stripes around the face that the real life Calico had (the model basis for the character). The real life Calico has nearly vertical stripes above her eyes, but horizontal ones fit the look of the comic one better. The real life Calico had eyes almost the color of her orange fur. When I digitally colored the eyes in this panel, it just wasn't fierce enough. By reversing the colors of the orange iris and black pupil, she looked much more menacing as intended here. In panels where she's not attacking, I'll probably stick with the real life eye color. But the part I'm most proud of in this panel is Calico's open mouth. The shading is really good, and I used some highlights on the tongue and a little bit on the gums for a pretty realistic look.

AUGUST 12, 2008
I finished added flat colors to the background of page eighteen, and added a dirt texture to both panels. Then I went to page twelve to tweak some elements that I wasn't happy with. I also added a simple background to all three panels of page twelve.

AUGUST 11, 2008
I assembled page eighteen today. The tricky parts on this page were the separate layer for Dark Warrior as he floats in the foreground (because he will be slightly transparent) and getting the sizing just right to fit both panels on the page. I also added some floating leaves to panel 2 which will be very blurred in the foreground later. These leaves were scanned off of the original 2002 artwork. I wanted to finish this part of the story with a little something from the old art :) I put flat colors on almost all of the (numerous) background trees.

AUGUST 10, 2008
I assembled page seventeen. The layout was pretty simple (four panels), but there was a lot of little extra work to do. There was a redrawn hand that needed attached in panel 2. And the hand & arm in panel 4 had to be resized to fit with Calico's head. Then I put flat colors on all of the characters in the four panels.

AUGUST 9, 2008
More flats on page sixteen today. It's kinda tricky to color my messy background art on panel 5, which was from the original 2002 Shadowlord comic. I may have to separate the background to its own layer for blur and texture effects later.

AUGUST 8, 2008
I assembled page sixteen of the Shadowlord webcomic. Then I added flat colors to close to half of the page.

AUGUST 7, 2008
When I checked my email today, I had an offer from a reputable comic website that was offering ad space at a special rate to entice independent comic publishers (i.e. publishers with no money). The rate was too good to pass up. My comic work today consisted of creating and tweaking a 5 panel animated "gif" format ad for uses on that site. It's a simple ad, but I like how it turned out.

AUGUST 6, 2008
More flat colors on pages twelve through fourteen. I added a textured dirt layer to page fourteen. I separated parts of page fifteen into separate layers, particularly the flames. I also did about half the flat colors on page fifteen.

AUGUST 5, 2008
I colored most of the flat colors for page twelve, and almost all of page thirteen. Page thirteen had some things that needed to be separated into different layers, such as the fire emerging from Shadowlord's eyes in panel 2.

AUGUST 4, 2008
I began arranging panels for the next few pages of the Shadowlord webcomic. I did this for pages twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. Then I decided to start the flat colors for page fourteen. It's the climactic scene where Shadowlord first unleashes his power. I spent a lot of time separating the art of page fourteen into different layers (background trees, Shadowlord himself, loose leaves, etc).

AUGUST 3, 2008
I sorted out files on my computer today. I deleted many files that were incomplete versions of the Shadowlord webcomic. I changed the names on the finished files, as they may be used later in printed form. I read some of a book about drawing and coloring manga. Some of it I know already. But there are some good digital coloring tricks in the book. Most exciting today was the purchase of my new scanner. This one can scan a much larger area. On future projects, I won't have to segment and reassemble the panels. I'll be able to draw one huge page, and scan the whole thing in at once!

AUGUST 2, 2008
Nothing spectacular today. I scanned in the art for part 3 of the Shadowlord webcomic. This included a couple panels from the original SL comic. And there was some hardcore erasing before I scanned. Even though I drew the art in blue pencil before inking, some dark blue areas show up on the scan if you don't erase it all.

AUGUST 1, 2008
BEHOLD! For thirteen months, I have done SOMETHING for comics every day. Today I redrew a panel of the Shadowlord webcomic. Yeah, I thought I was done. But looking back at the original SL comic, I realized that Dark Warrior gives him the spear at the end of the "Daybreak" story, but SL walks away without the spear. Then he HAS the spear in the bonus story "The Hunting." And I replicated the mistake in the new art. In the far shots, it was easy to ink the spear in. But I needed SL to actually GET the spear. So panel 3 of page seventeen had to go. I wasn't real happy with that panel anyway. The new one looks way better to me. And it actually shows Shadowlord's hand on the spear - an object that plays a big part in the next few SL stories.

JULY 31, 2008
Tonight, I fleshed out another story featuring Shadowlord. This is the story that follows directly after the stuff I worked on yesterday. This new story is similar to a horror story, which is pretty challenging to write in a comic format. In a movie you'd have things like sound and light to really make things jumpy. Here, I'll have to establish mood with darkly colored panels and proper pacing. I'm happy with this draft, but it needs to be polished.

JULY 30, 2008
I finished scripting that short Shadowlord story. I added a couple of panels, and I condensed a few others. I divided the panels into separate page groups, which also decides the pacing. There are a couple of humorous moments, and then the mood turns a bit.

JULY 29, 2008
I did some scripting today, involving a Shadowlord story I wrote a while back. I broke it down into panels, but I haven't decided how many of the panels go on each page.

JULY 28, 2008
I penciled and inked the final panel of page eighteen. With that, the art is complete for the third and final part of the "Daybreak" webcomic. There's still plenty of digital work to do before it's ready to be posted on the site, but this is a big step in the process!

JULY 27, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 1 of page eighteen today. This is an overhead shot of the apparation-like Dark Warrior looking down at Shadowlord and Calico. I decided to recreate the same shot I used in the original Shadowlord comic. I'd like this last page to match the last page of the comic, just as the first page matched. Today's panel was drawn on two separate sheets. One sheet for the trees and ground, and a separate sheet for Dark Warrior only. This way, I can adjust the opacity of DW's layer so he'll be a bit transparent.

JULY 26, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 4 of page seventeen. It shows Shadowlord's hand scratching Calico's forehead affectionately. The art for this chapter of the webcomic is nearly finished!

JULY 25, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 3 of page seventeen. I also fixed a problem with one of the hands from yesterday's panel.

JULY 24, 2008
After another failed attempt at panel 2 (from page seventeen), I finally penciled one that will "do." I'm not that happy with it, but it involves two poses that are giving me trouble. Shadowlord is doing a "I dunno" gesture with his shoulders and palms, which looks a bit awkward. And Calico is turning her head to look up at him, which I'm either getting the head or body right but not both. This last drawing is going to be good enough. I'm just tired of drawing it over and over now.

JULY 23, 2008
I penciled and inked panel 1 of page seventeen of the webcomic. I tried twice to draw the next panel too, but I wasn't happy with either attempt.

JULY 22, 2008
Pow! Knocked out panels 2, 3, & 4 of page sixteen. Pencils, inks, everything. I get to skip drawing panel 5 of this page, since I intend to use the original art from the old 2002 comic. It was one of my favorite panels out of the book. It's not even anything fancy. It shows the back of Shadowlord's legs as Dark Warrior thows a spear-like sapling at him. But compared to alot of the other art in that book, this was one of the few panels that turned out as good as I had planned.

JULY 21, 2008
Okay, so I didn't think I was trying to focus on the art for the next Shadowlord webcomic, but I guess I am. I drew two versions of panel 1 for page sixteen. Only one version did not get torn up.

JULY 20, 2008
I penciled and inked page fifteen of the Shadowlord webcomic. This is a full-page panel of Dark Warrior who is NOT having fun.

JULY 19, 2008
I penciled and inked the background for page fourteen today. Mostly trees and some loose leaves.

JULY 18, 2008
This morning, I inked the panel from page fourteen. But I didn't like it. I sketched another one, then penciled one more. This last one turned out the best. In this panel, we're looking at Shadowlord who unleashes a blast of fire at us (the reader). In the final version, I decided not to make the hands level. I also used a lot of small lines (similar to hatching) to imply the hands rather than just drawing the outline of the hands. This is because I like to draw the hands this way when they are on fire (as in this panel). It reminds me of a burning piece of wood or charcoal. Tonight, I inked this final version. I did not draw in the flames yet, nor the background. I think I will leave these as separate elements to be combined digitally.

JULY 17, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 2 of page thirteen for the webcomic. Like the original 2002 Shadowlord comic, this shows a sudden infuriated Shadowlord with flames rising from his eyes. Unlike the original, I decided to add pupils to the normally blank white eyes here. This is just a hint of an ability we will explore at a later time. Also unlike the 2002 version, this will soon be in full color on the 'net. So we'll get to see his purple fire for the first time in this webcomic! Later, I penciled a version of the full-page panel from page fourteen.

JULY 16, 2008
It wasn't easy, but I penciled and inked a crucial panel today for the Shadowlord webcomic. This is the shot where Dark Warrior holds Calico at arm's length as she attacks for the first time. I love how this panel turned out. I can't wait to see it colored and posted as part of the webcomic!

JULY 15, 2008
After two or three bad versions, I finally penciled a decent panel 3 for page twelve. What was tricky on this panel was the part where we see Calico leaping angrily through the air. I've drawn Calico quite a few times, but not with her body elongated while pouncing. I'm happy with the way it eventually turned out.

JULY 14, 2008
I penciled and inked a vicious picture of Calico for panel 2 of page twelve today.

JULY 13, 2008
Okay, so I thought I was taking a break from the Shadowlord webcomic... but today I penciled and inked panel 1 of page twelve. Hopefully, part 3 won't take as long as part 2 did. There are a lot more large panels, so that means less individual sheets before I scan and assemble them.

JULY 12, 2008
Today, I got on myspace and posted a comment banner ad to a bunch of comic related groups. The banner advertises the newly posted Shadowlord webcomic. I also divided the goroshi webcomic into six pages of script.

JULY 11, 2008
I drew the main character from the upcoming webseries "Mark of the Jinn" today. Well, the first sketch wanted to be balled up and thrown in the trash. The second however turned out much better, and shows the character from the front and one from the side. Then I began sketching some web layouts for some additions I plan to bring to the web site.

JULY 10, 2008
Now that the smoke has cleared from working on part 2 of the Shadowlord webcomic last month, I realize I need to check in with various artists I've met online. I took time today to give a shout to artists involved on webcomics in production now. This is one thing I definitely need to improve on. I get in a one-track frame of mind when I'm working on something, and I forget to stay in contact with the amazing artists I've met. I'm trying to do better :) I also posted new art byDavid Jackson on our pinup page!

JULY 9, 2008
I scripted the new Goroshi webcomic. I didn't finalize the pacing or the number of panels per page. I broke all the action and dialogue into panels though. I'll group them and divide them into different pages later.

JULY 8, 2008
I started with a quick pin-up style pencil & ink drawing of Shadowlord. I tried another, but it soon discovered its destiny in my shredder. I drew a quick pencil sketch of the female martial artist I was working on a few days ago. I added a different weapon this time - a short blade on a grip similar to a simple corkscrew handle. I then wrote a quick (and rather rough) draft of the new "Goroshi" webcomic.

JULY 7, 2008
Today I drew a new version of "Goroshi" from the ninja webcomic. After surviving his near-fatal encounter, his personality has completely changed. It's really fun for me to see this character grow. Originally, he was just a throw-away character meant to die and disappear. But things change. And although I hate when dead characters come back in comics, I didn't actually ever show Goroshi DEAD... just cut real bad :)

JULY 6, 2008
Today I drew a new character with a power I really haven't written about much before: summoning. I'm not ready to give too much away, but I wrote a bunch of notes about summoning as it applies to my comic universe. Also today, I got to hang out with writer / artist Jason Negen, and we talked about possible collaborative projects!

JULY 5, 2008
I used a small tape recorder to take notes about an upcoming short story featuring the "Goroshi" character from the "Ori v Goroshi" webcomic. I also drew a new version of Goroshi, who looks very different with his hair down. I recorded the verbal notes long before midnight. But since the drawing was done AFTER midnight (and before I went to sleep) I don't feel I can count that as something done on a whole new day. I'll still have to do something separate for the 6th.

JULY 4, 2008
Happy Independence Day! I finished digitally created the sword for the new pinup of Ori Junichero. I changed the size of the page a bit and added a black border. I posted the new art to the pinup page, and updated the Home & News page for this month.

JULY 3, 2008
More work on the new Ori pin-up art. I scanned it into the computer and cleaned it up just a little. I added a red "rising sun" behind him, and some kanji writing from a scroll in the pages of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" (the kanji I used means "strength"). I started blocking off parts of the sword, which I intend to change to all digital art.

JULY 2, 2008
Ahh. No digital coloring today :) I'm completely happy with how all the colors turned out on pages six through eleven on the Shadowlord webcomic. I'm even happier that it's over and I can move on to something else. Tonight, I did something much easier. I penciled and inked a pin-up of "Ori," the hero from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I inked the sword with a marker, and all of Ori with a brush. I used very loose, quick brush work on Ori. It turned out pretty nice. I intend to do some digital work on this so it will be a mixed media pin-up once it's finished.

JULY 1, 2008
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Today, it has been ONE YEAR since I started the daily blog. I feel this is a tremendous milestone in my journey, as I have done SOMETHING for my comics absolutely every day during this past year. And to celebrate, I have finished the remaining effects on page eleven, including the puddle and bubble effects. So without further ado, go to the webcomics page and check out "Shadowlord: Daybreak, part 2."

This website as well as all characters and comics listed therein, copyright 2008 Jay W. Davis / One Shot Productions.